


The Sweetest Thing To Come Home To

by fadetoblue



Series: 7 Days of Carmilla [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: 7 Days of Carmilla, F/F, Fluff, Hollstein - Freeform, Space Adventure, domestic hollstein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 11:36:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7220761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadetoblue/pseuds/fadetoblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura's been out town working on a story for a month and missing home like crazy. Once her plane lands, she'll do anything to get there a little faster, even commit a few traffic infractions. Because, what's waiting for her has always been the sweetest thing to come home to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sweetest Thing To Come Home To

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, I'm way behind, hopefully I can catch up. But I hope you enjoy my first contribution to 7 Days of Carmilla

Laura exited the airport with her bags in tow, filled with more energy than anyone should have after a month long trip and a sixteen hour flight. But it felt so good to be back, and she couldn’t wait to get home. She stood on the curb waiving her hands wildly above her head to flag down a taxi, climbing in the back of the first one that stopped, a small little electric number with glowing lights on top, and translucent paint across the body.

“Can you take me to 307 16th Avenue at 98th street,” she said as she settled her luggage beside her on the seat.

“Not a problem, Ma’am,” the cabby flashed her a toothy grin in the rearview mirror and pulled away from the curb.

“Fantastic,” Laura exclaimed, matching his smile as she rubbed her hands together in anticipation. “I’ll double your fee, if you get me there in fifteen minutes.” 

She barely had time to grab the hand bar above her to keep from sliding back and forth across the seat as he darted in and out of traffic with increasing speed. But she didn’t care. Playing it safe wasn’t an option tonight, not when she knew what was waiting for her.

Besides, with all the advancements in technology car accidents rarely ever happened anymore, because they were all designed to sense possible collisions and stop on a dime to avoid it. And yes, she knew her dad would be less than thrilled when he found out about her ‘recklessness’, which he inevitably would as the head of the Traffic Safety commission. That was the only downfall of on board cameras in every vehicle, but that really didn’t matter at the moment.

The only thing on her mind was the destination, because she’d been away thirty-one days too long. And she honestly didn’t know how she survived it all without even the bare minimum of face time chats to get by on. So yes, she was going to break the rules just to get where she wanted to be that much quicker.

Street signs flew by in a blur of letters clumped together and red lights didn’t mean stop, instead they were just a right turn detour between her and the warmth and comfort of home that she longed for with every fiber of her being.

... 

He got her all the way across town in under ten, and she gladly paid the agreed upon amount, plus a hefty tip for any traffic infractions he might incur for speeding. Hopping out the car dragging her bags behind her, she bounded up the steps to the porch taking them two at a time. But, she didn’t even have a chance to get out her key before the door was flung open and she was pulled inside, and engulfed in the arms of her beautiful wife.

“Hi, Cupcake,” Carmilla murmured into her hair, holding her tight.

“Hey,” she breathed, hugging her back with just as much force, or more a need deep inside. 

Sure, seeing the world and beyond was amazing and incredibly fascinating, but nothing compared to this. And being gone for long periods of time was the hardest part of pursuing a career in investigative journalism, because every moment she was away, she longed for home. Not a place, but the people that make her life complete. And it’s always been that way.

“Welcome back,” Carmilla whispered, drawing away slightly to plant several tender kisses on her lips. “I’m glad you’re finally home.”

“Me too,” she murmured, sighing into each one of them and threading her fingers through the thick raven locks that framed her face. 

It seemed like forever before they were able to tear themselves apart to stow her luggage in the entry way and close the door. But they did. And she let Carmilla lead her into the living where the kindling in the fireplace was going strong, and candles waiting to be lit on the coffee table with a dozen red roses and a bottle of champagne chilling between them.

“Wow, Carm, you really went all out,” Laura gasped.

“Don’t I always,” Carmilla said, smirking to hide the shyness she still felt when she did something romantic.

“Of course you do,” she said, giving her hand a squeeze, “but it’s not usually this elaborate.”

“Yeah, well—the little scamp had something to do with that,” she admitted, quirking an eyebrow and glancing fondly down the hall. “I was thinking more along the lines of fixing you some gooey chocolate desert and whisking you straight to bed.”

“But, Riley, wouldn’t let you,” Laura said with a knowing chuckle as she met her gaze.

“No!” Carmilla huffed, leveling a sultry pout at her. “Our kid insisted that I needed to put more effort into ensuring you don’t leave for another extended assignment any time soon.”

Her sarcastic eye roll was hampered by the seductive smile tugging at her mouth that made it pretty clear she already had every intention of doing that by completely different means. It was a look that still held the power to make Laura blush profusely and set her heart racing. Even after twelve years together, she fell more in love with Carmilla every day, and coming home to her was the best feeling in the world...no actually the best feeling in the galaxy as they knew it.

And she was more than tempted to forego the foreplay and wrap herself around her wife, until the sun came up. But there was something else she had to do first that was equally important.

“Before you use those seduction eyes on me, I’m going to go peek in on, Riley,” Laura said, leaning up to kiss her cheek.

Reveling in the soft hearty burst of laughter that escaped her lips, she turned to head toward their daughter’s bedroom, as smooth melodic sound warmed her more than the fire burning in the hearth. But she barely managed to take a couple steps when Carmilla’s arms sidled around her waist from behind to halt her movement.

“It’s been thirty-two days, Cutie,” she purred in her ear. “I don’t really think seduction will be necessary for either of us.”

She was treated to another burst of laughter when she shuddered against her.

“But by all means, let’s go see the little monster, because I’ll never hear the end of it otherwise.” Carmilla gave a shrug when she glanced over shoulder questioningly. “The only reason she wasn’t there to greet you at the door with me is because we made a deal. She could stay up until you got home, as long as she got ready for bed and let me tuck her in.”

“Wow, Carm, you of all people, letting a four year old boss you around.”

“She takes after her mama,” Carmilla said, biting back a grin of her own, but Laura’s smug smile earned her a playful nudge.

Almost as soon as she opened the door, Riley flung back the covers and launched herself off the bed into her arms squealing, “Mama,” at the top of her lungs.

“Hey, munchkin,” Laura said, catching her with ease and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I hear you’ve been a handful.”

Riley nodded vigorously sending her light brown hair flying about her face. “I learned from the bestest,” she said animatedly, peering over her shoulder at Carmilla.

“Did you now,” Laura said, biting back a laugh as Carmilla gave her a discretely soft warning pat on the butt.

“Yep, it’s my sponsibility to keep, mom, in checkers when you’re not here,” Riley replied, with an air of pride.

“Hey,” Carmilla eye rolled, reaching around Laura to tickle her side, “I am the adult in this relationship, squirt.”

“Naw aw,” she giggled, twisting to get away from the onslaught, before hopping out of Laura’s arms and sticking out her tongue. “You’re always grwmpy when mama’s gone, and you makes bigger messes than I do. Dat’s why we played the clweaning game all d...”

Carmilla slipped around Laura in flash to clamp her hand over her mouth before she could get another word out. “I think _someone_ might be a little delirious, because it’s past their bedtime!”

The two of them exchanged a look, and Riley mouthed, “opsie,” as she took her hand away.

They both turned to Laura when she cleared her throat, with guilt written on their faces. And she had to fight the smile that threatened to take over at the scene before her. Apparently she was ‘mama’ to their daughter, and the love of her life, but she wouldn’t change anything about it.

“It is well past your bedtime, Rye,” she said, crossing her arms to show that she was serious.

“But, mama,” Riley whined, jutting out her bottom lip obstinately. 

“Maybe, if you hurry I’ll tell you a story.”

She let out an exuberant yelp, breaking away from Carmilla to scramble into bed and pull the covers up to her chin, expertly tucking herself in. Waiving them over to curl up with her like they always did during story time.

“And you and I are going to have another little talk about teaching our daughter to lie later, Carm,” she murmured for her ears alone, as she passed by her on the way to Riley’s bed. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Carmilla breathed quietly.

Following suit, she couldn’t have hid the smile spreading across her face if she wanted to, and it had just as much to do with the hours of quality time with Laura that lie ahead, as the simple fact that she’d never been happier than she was having her two favorite people all in one place, with her.

“What’ll it be tonight, munchkin,” Laura said, as Carmilla curled up beside her on the foot of the bed. “Do you want mom and I to take turns...”

Riley shook her head without hesitation, “I wanna know more bout Cap’n Hollis space aventures, pwease.”

“What am I, chopped liver,” Carmilla quipped.

“Nope. But, mama tells better bedtime stowies than you,” Riley said, giving her head a soothing pat.

“Well, you’re lucky you take after her and are cute as a button, otherwise I might be offended, squirt,” she reached out to tweak her nose and get a soft chortle out of her.

“Alright, here we go,” Laura said, taking a deep breath to gather her thoughts once they settled down.

“It’s star date 2075, and Captain Katherine Hollis and her crew are all set to head out on a mission. She hugs her husband and daughter, one last time before joining the others to get suited up and head out to the shuttle, D.E.S.P.A. for a routine run to the new orbital space station. Everything is loud and busy, as the final checks are done aboard the ship, and their there are just a few moments of silence, before the rocket engine rumbles to life beneath them, crackling like thunder.

‘Houston, we have lift off,’ Katherine relays to the command center.

But, she’s done this so many times throughout her career that being propelled into the sky doesn’t even faze her, or any of them for that matter. They just put down the visors on their helmets and enjoy the ride, as the ground beneath them gets smaller and smaller, turning into an assortment of shapes like pieces of a puzzle put together. It doesn’t take long before the earth is just a giant blue ball glowing in the distance, and they are surrounded by the dark sea of space, with stars shining brightly ahead of them as far as the eye can see. And it was utterly breath taking, and beautiful. How small we are in comparison to the rest of the galaxy.”

Laura took a moment to smile lovingly at Riley, wide eyed with intrigue and already rapt up in the story, even though it had just begun. She shot a quick glance over at Carm too, taking in her beautiful features sprawled out next to her before she shifted from staring out the window at the night sky to grin at her. And she was pleased to see that she was just as enthralled as their daughter was, and she wasn’t trying to hide it this time either.

“Mama, pwease don’t stop now,” Riley stifled a yawn, and squirmed around beneath the covers with uncontrollable excitement.

“I’m not going to,” she said reassuringly. “It just feels so good to be home, I needed to take a moment.”

She felt the warmth of Carmilla’s hand lightly caress the small of her back and met her loving gaze before continuing.

“Once the booster rockets were spent, it was time to get to work. Katherine went through her checklist to shut them off and release them to float around in space for all eternity, so they could use the ships second less powerful engines to sail through the ocean of stars. There was minimal chatter among them, other than what was necessary for the task or communicating with the control center on the ground to check coordinates and make sure the shuttle was lined up on target to sling shot around the moon.

It was the trickiest part of the entire journey, and there was no room for mistakes, because if they were off by even a single degree it would put them thousands of miles off course. Or pitch them to close to the moon’s field of gravity, and either of those outcomes meant they wouldn’t have enough fuel for the rest of the trip, or possibly even to abort the mission and return home to earth. It didn’t matter how many times they’d made the trip, during these moments the air was tense, not with fear, but the unified desire to succeed.

As Katherine manned the ship with her copilot right beside her, she made one last communication with the control tower, before they lost the signal. ‘Houston, we’ll see you on the other side,’ she spoke with certainty.

Taking a breath, she glanced back into the inner cabin, only to be saluted with their mantra, ‘into the darkness D.E.S.P.A. sets sail, never to fear the unknown. For our braveness never fails.’ And with that she turned back to the helm, controls steadfast in her hands, and began to pick up the speed they’d needed.

The minutes passed, melding into each other and by the time they reached six G’s it was rough and turbulent as any stormy sea, at eight it took all her concentration to keep them on course as beads of perspiration dotted her forehead. And she felt the strain in every muscle from her shoulders all the way down to her fingertips. They were coming into the darkest shadows of the moon’s orbit, when the ship reached ten G’s and she could feel the pull of gravity trying to real them in, but with the combined effort of her copilot they held firm, arching around it so close that they could make out familiar craters in the surface. Despite all the forces threatening to rip the shuttle to pieces, everything was calm and quiet within the cabin, except for the static crackle over their radios.

It didn’t seem like it was very long, before they came out of it on the other side, but in reality it had been hours. The two pilots carefully decreased the speed so the engines wouldn’t stall, and once the ship was back down to the normal pace, the entire crew erupted all at once. Not with whoops of joy, but simply from the thrill of adrenaline coursing them. That was only quieted by the crackle of the radio, ‘Deep Space Avenger, this is Houston, do you copy?’

Katherine glanced over at her copilot and slapped him affectionately on the back, nodding for him to do the honors.

‘Roger that Houston,’ he said with a bursting of pride, ‘Shuttle D.E.S.P.A. all accounted for, one hundred over hundred.’

‘Good to hear,’ the mic crackled and went silent for a moment, ‘sounds like you and the crew deserve some down time before you hit the cryo chambers for the last leg of the trip, Captain Hollis.’

‘I couldn’t agree more, mission control,’ Katherine said with the subtle arrogance denoting her position as the most revered deep space pilot in the history of the Galactic Space Agency. ‘We’ll check back in a few hours. This is D.E.S.P.A. signing out.’

‘Well, you heard ‘em gang, let’s go grab some grub and have a little fun,’ she said unstrapping the multitude of buckles securing her to the seat and floating down the middle of the isle toward the back of the cabin with the occasional flip in the absence of gravity just for the heck of it.

The euphoric rush of the moment may have subsided, but the crews energy was still high, spurred on by the exuberance of their leader that they would follow anywhere in this star system and beyond. Not just because she was the best at what she did, but because she’d earned their respect long ago, and treated each and every one of them like an extension of her own family, in outer space and on the ground.”

“Wow,” Riley breathed, snuggling into her pillow with heavy eyelids. “I’m gon be just like her one day,” she murmured before falling fast asleep.

“I’m sure you will, munchkin,” Laura kissed her forehead followed by Carmilla, and they quietly made their way out of their daughters bedroom.

Settling on the couch in front of the fireplace, Laura rested her head on Carmilla’s chest sighing deeply as she wrapped her arms around her. The chilled wine could wait a little longer, she just wanted this time, because she’d missed the feeling so much.

“What’s on your mind, Cupcake,” Carmilla murmured, brushing a lock of hair away from her face and behind her ear.

“A lot of things,” she said softly, “but it can all wait until tomorrow. Right now, I just want you to hold me.”

“Always,” Carmilla rasped, bursting with all the love she had, “I will always be your anchor, Laura, no matter where your career takes you.” 

Laura leaned up to kiss her, because no words in existence seemed enough to express everything she felt. And yes, it was so darn good to be home. But, the thing that settled in her mind was that maybe it was time for a few changes, because there was nothing like being with her family. And after this last trip, she knew that she couldn’t be away from them again, if she didn’t have to.


End file.
